Transcript 4-Queens Problem

Constraint Satisfaction Problems
A Quick Overview
(based on AIMA book slides)
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Constraint satisfaction problems
 What is a CSP?
• Finite set of variables V1, V2, …, Vn
• Nonempty domain of possible values for each variable
DV1, DV2, … DVn
• Finite set of constraints C1, C2, …, Cm
• Each constraint Ci limits the values that variables can
take, e.g., V1 ≠ V2
 A state is an assignment of values to some or all
variables.
 Consistent assignment: assignment does not
violate the constraints.
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Constraint satisfaction problems
 An assignment is complete when every variable
has a value.
 A solution to a CSP is a complete assignment
that satisfies all constraints.
 Some CSPs require a solution that maximizes an
objective function.
 Applications:
• Scheduling the Hubble Space Telescope,
• Floor planning for VLSI,
• Map coloring,
• Cryptography
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Example: Map-Coloring
 Variables: WA, NT, Q, NSW, V, SA, T
 Domains:
Di = {red,green,blue}
 Constraints: adjacent regions must have different colors
• e.g., WA ≠ NT
—So (WA,NT) must be in {(red,green),(red,blue),(green,red), …}
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Example: Map-Coloring
Solutions are complete and consistent assignments,
• e.g., WA = red, NT = green,Q = red,NSW = green,
V = red,SA = blue,T = green
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Constraint graph
 Binary CSP: each constraint relates
two variables
 Constraint graph:
• nodes are variables
• arcs are constraints
 CSP benefits
• Standard representation pattern
• Generic goal and successor functions
• Generic heuristics (no domain specific expertise).
 Graph can be used to simplify search.
— e.g. Tasmania is an independent subproblem.
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Varieties of CSPs
 Discrete variables
• finite domains:
—n variables, domain size d  O(dn) complete assignments
—e.g., Boolean CSPs, includes Boolean satisfiability (NP-complete)
• infinite domains:
—integers, strings, etc.
—e.g., job scheduling, variables are start/end days for each job
—need a constraint language, e.g., StartJob1 + 5 ≤ StartJob3
 Continuous variables
• e.g., start/end times for Hubble Space Telescope observations
• linear constraints solvable in polynomial time by linear
programming
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Varieties of constraints
 Unary constraints involve a single variable,
• e.g., SA ≠ green
 Binary constraints involve pairs of variables,
• e.g., SA ≠ WA
 Higher-order constraints involve 3 or more variables
• e.g., cryptarithmetic column constraints
 Preference (soft constraints) e.g. red is better than
green can be represented by a cost for each variable
assignment => Constrained optimization problems.
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Example: Cryptarithmetic
 Variables:
F T U W R O X1 X2 X3
 Domain: {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}
 Constraints: Alldiff (F,T,U,W,R,O)
•
•
•
•
O + O = R + 10 · X1
X1 + W + W = U + 10 · X2
X2 + T + T = O + 10 · X3
X3 = F, T ≠ 0, F ≠ 0
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CSP as a standard search problem
 A CSP can easily be expressed as a standard
search problem.
• Initial State: the empty assignment {}.
• Operators: Assign value to unassigned variable provided
that there is no conflict.
• Goal test: assignment consistent and complete.
• Path cost: constant cost for every step.
• Solution is found at depth n, for n variables
• Hence depth first search can be used
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Backtracking search
 Variable assignments are commutative,
• Eg [ WA = red then NT = green ]
equivalent to [ NT = green then WA = red ]
 Only need to consider assignments to a single variable at
each node
b
= d and there are dn leaves
 Depth-first search for CSPs with single-variable
assignments is called backtracking search
 Backtracking search basic uninformed algorithm for CSPs
 Can solve n-queens for n ≈ 25
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Backtracking search
function BACKTRACKING-SEARCH(csp) % returns a solution or failure
return RECURSIVE-BACKTRACKING({} , csp)
function RECURSIVE-BACKTRACKING(assignment, csp) % returns a solution or failure
if assignment is complete then return assignment
var  SELECT-UNASSIGNED-VARIABLE(VARIABLES[csp],assignment,csp)
for each value in ORDER-DOMAIN-VALUES(var, assignment, csp) do
if value is consistent with assignment according to CONSTRAINTS[csp]
then
add {var=value} to assignment
result  RECURSIVE-BACKTRACKING(assignment, csp)
if result  failure then return result
remove {var=value} from assignment
return failure
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Backtracking example
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Backtracking example
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Backtracking example
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Backtracking example
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Improving backtracking efficiency
General-purpose methods can give huge speed gains:
• Which variable should be assigned next?
• In what order should its values be tried?
• Can we detect inevitable failure early?
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Most constrained variable
 Most constrained variable:
choose the variable with the fewest legal values
 a.k.a. minimum remaining values (MRV) heuristic
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Most constraining variable
 Tie-breaker among most constrained variables
 Most constraining variable:
• choose the variable with the most constraints on remaining
variables
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Least constraining value
 Given a variable, choose the least constraining
value:
• the one that rules out the fewest values in the remaining
variables
 Combining these heuristics makes 1000 queens
feasible
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Forward Checking
 Idea:
• Keep track of remaining legal values for unassigned
variables
• Terminate search when any variable has no legal values
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Forward checking
 Idea:
• Keep track of remaining legal values for unassigned
variables
• Terminate search when any variable has no legal values
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Forward checking
 Idea:
• Keep track of remaining legal values for unassigned
variables
• Terminate search when any variable has no legal values
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Forward checking
 Idea:
• Keep track of remaining legal values for unassigned
variables
• Terminate search when any variable has no legal values
 No more value for SA: backtrack
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
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2
3
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X1
{1,2,3,4}
X2
{1,2,3,4}
X3
{1,2,3,4}
X4
{1,2,3,4}
1
2
3
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[4-Queens slides copied from B.J. Dorr]
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
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2
3
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X1
{1,2,3,4}
X2
{1,2,3,4}
X3
{1,2,3,4}
X4
{1,2,3,4}
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
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2
3
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X1
{1,2,3,4}
X2
{ , ,3,4}
X3
{ ,2, ,4}
X4
{ ,2,3, }
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
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2
3
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X1
{1,2,3,4}
X2
{ , ,3,4}
X3
{ ,2, ,4}
X4
{ ,2,3, }
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
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2
3
4
X1
{1,2,3,4}
X2
{ , ,3,4}
X3
{ , , , }
X4
{ ,2, , }
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
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2
3
4
X1
{1,2,3,4}
X2
{ , , ,4}
X3
{ ,2, ,4}
X4
{ ,2,3, }
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
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2
3
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X1
{1,2,3,4}
X2
{ , , ,4}
X3
{ ,2, , }
X4
{ , ,3, }
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
1
2
3
4
X1
{1,2,3,4}
X2
{ , , ,4}
X3
{ ,2, , }
X4
{ , ,3, }
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
1
2
3
4
X1
{1,2,3,4}
X2
{ , , ,4}
X3
{ ,2, , }
X4
{ , , , }
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
1
2
3
4
X1
{ ,2,3,4}
X2
{1,2,3,4}
X3
{1,2,3,4}
X4
{1,2,3,4}
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
1
2
3
4
X1
{ ,2,3,4}
X2
{ , , ,4}
X3
{1, ,3, }
X4
{1, ,3,4}
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
1
2
3
4
X1
{ ,2,3,4}
X2
{ , , ,4}
X3
{1, ,3, }
X4
{1, ,3,4}
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
1
2
3
4
X1
{ ,2,3,4}
X2
{ , , ,4}
X3
{1, , , }
X4
{1, ,3, }
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
1
2
3
4
X1
{ ,2,3,4}
X2
{ , , ,4}
X3
{1, , , }
X4
{1, ,3, }
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
1
2
3
4
X1
{ ,2,3,4}
X2
{ , , ,4}
X3
{1, , , }
X4
{ , ,3, }
1
2
3
4
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Example: 4-Queens Problem
1
2
3
4
X1
{ ,2,3,4}
X2
{ , , ,4}
X3
{1, , , }
X4
{ , ,3, }
1
2
3
4
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Constraint Propagation
 Simplest form of propagation makes each arc consistent
 Arc X Y (link in constraint graph) is consistent iff

for every value x of X there is some allowed y
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Arc consistency
 Simplest form of propagation makes each arc consistent
 X Y is consistent iff

for every value x of X there is some allowed y
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Arc consistency
 Simplest form of propagation makes each arc consistent
 X Y is consistent iff

for every value x of X there is some allowed y
 If X loses a value, neighbors of X need to be rechecked
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Arc consistency
 Simplest form of propagation makes each arc consistent
 X Y is consistent iff

for every value x of X there is some allowed y
 If X loses a value, neighbors of X need to be rechecked
 Arc consistency detects failure earlier than forward
checking
 Can be run as a preprocessor or after each assignment
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Arc Consistency Algorithm AC-3
function AC-3(csp) % returns the CSP, possibly with reduced domains
inputs: csp, a binary csp with variables {X1, X2, … , Xn}
local variables: queue, a queue of arcs initially the arcs in csp
while queue is not empty do
(Xi, Xj)  REMOVE-FIRST(queue)
if REMOVE-INCONSISTENT-VALUES(Xi, Xj) then
for each Xk in NEIGHBORS[Xi ] do
add (Xk, Xi) to queue
function REMOVE-INCONSISTENT-VALUES(Xi, Xj) % returns true iff a value is removed
removed  false
for each x in DOMAIN[Xi] do
if no value y in DOMAIN[Xj] allows (x,y) to satisfy the constraints between Xi and Xj
then delete x from DOMAIN[Xi]; removed  true
return removed
Time complexity: O(n2d3)
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Local Search for CSPs
 Hill-climbing methods typically work with "complete"
states, i.e., all variables assigned
 To apply to CSPs:
• allow states with unsatisfied constraints
• operators reassign variable values
 Variable selection: randomly select any conflicted variable
 Value selection by min-conflicts heuristic:
• choose value that violates the fewest constraints
• i.e., hill-climb with h(n) = number of violated constraints
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Example: n-queens
 States: 4 queens in 4 columns (44 = 256 states)
 Actions: move queen in column
 Goal test: no attacks
 Evaluation: h(n) = number of attacks
 Given random initial state, we can solve n-queens for large n
with high probability
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Real-world CSPs
 Assignment problems
• e.g., who teaches what class
 Timetabling problems
• e.g., which class is offered when and where?
 Transportation scheduling
 Factory scheduling
 Notice that many real-world problems involve
real-valued variables
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Summary
 CSPs are a special kind of problem:
• states defined by values of a fixed set of variables
• goal test defined by constraints on variable values
 Backtracking = depth-first search with one variable
assigned per node
 Variable ordering and value selection heuristics help
significantly
 Forward checking prevents assignments that guarantee
later failure
 Constraint propagation (e.g., arc consistency) additionally
constrains values and detects inconsistencies
 Iterative min-conflicts is usually effective in practice
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